MedicineWorld.Org: Archive page

Gap junction protein vital to successful pregnancy

Scientists studying a critical stage of pregnancy implantation of the embryo in the uterus have found a protein that is vital to the growth of new blood vessels that sustain the embryo. Without this protein, which is produced in higher quantities in the presence of estrogen, the embryo is unlikely to survive.
This is the first study to detail the mechanism by which the steroid hormone estrogen spurs cell differentiation and blood-vessel........Go to the OBGYN news blog (Added on 9/10/2008 8:43:49 PM)

Older adults can take medicines more safely

Elderly adults may be better able to comply with medicine regimens by working with providers to fill out simple paper tables that track what they take and when they take it. Recent experiments observed that use of a "medtable" may help to prevent medication-related problems. A report appears in the recent issue of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, published by the American Psychological Association.
As they age, people often take........Go to the Society medical news blog (Added on 9/9/2008 10:04:05 PM)

Calcium during pregnancy reduces harmful blood lead levels

Pregnant women who take high levels of daily calcium supplements show a marked reduction in lead levels in their blood, suggesting calcium could play a critical role in reducing fetal and infant exposure.
A new study at the University of Michigan shows that women who take 1,200 milligrams of calcium daily have up to a 31 percent reduction in lead levels.
Women who used lead-glazed ceramics and those with high bone lead levels showed the........Go to the OBGYN news blog (Added on 9/9/2008 8:54:21 PM)

Eating fish while pregnant and longer breastfeeding

Both higher fish consumption and longer breastfeeding are associated with better physical and cognitive development in infants, as per a research studyof mothers and infants from Denmark. Maternal fish consumption and longer breastfeeding were independently beneficial.
"These results, together with findings from other studies of women in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, provide additional evidence that moderate maternal fish intake during........Go to the OBGYN news blog (Added on 9/9/2008 8:44:48 PM)

Painkillers lower levels of prostate cancer biomarker

Common painkillers like aspirin and ibuprofen appear to lower a man's PSA level, the blood biomarker widely used by physicians to help gauge whether a man is at risk of prostate cancer.
But the authors of the study, which appears online Sept. 8 in the journal Cancer, caution that men shouldn't take the painkillers in an effort to prevent prostate cancer just yet.
"We showed that men who regularly took certain medications like aspirin and........Go to the Prostate-cancer-blog (Added on 9/8/2008 6:24:08 PM)

Explaining winter blues

Why do a number of Canadians get the winter blues? In the first study of its kind in the living human brain, Dr. Jeffrey Meyer and his colleagues at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have discovered greater levels of serotonin transporter in the brain in winter than in summer. These findings have important implications for understanding seasonal mood change in healthy people, vulnerability to seasonal affective disorders and........Go to the Psychology news blog (Added on 9/8/2008 5:25:33 PM)

More off-premise alcohol outlets can lead to more injuries

Childhood injuries constitute a serious issue in the United States. In 2001, there were 12,249 deaths among children ages one to 14: injuries were the leading cause, accounting for 33.2 percent of all deaths for children ages one to four, and 39.4 percent of all deaths for children ages five to 14. A new study has observed that numerous off-premise alcohol outlets in neighborhoods can reduce overall guardianship of children's activities,........Go to the Society medical news blog (Added on 9/4/2008 3:59:45 PM)

College freshmen: pain killers and stimulants less risky than cocaine

First year college students think that occasional nonmedical use of prescription pain killers and stimulants is less risky than cocaine, but more risky than marijuana or consuming five or more alcoholic beverages every weekend, as per a new study reported in the recent issue of Prevention Science, the peer-evaluated journal of the Society for Prevention Research.
This is the first study to describe college students' perceptions about the........Go to the Psychology news blog (Added on 9/3/2008 7:00:57 PM)

Too much calcium in blood may increase risk of fatal prostate cancer

Men who have too much calcium in their bloodstreams may have an increased risk of fatal prostate cancer, as per a new analysis from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin.
"We show that men in upper range of the normal distribution of serum calcium subsequently have an almost three-fold increased risk for fatal prostate cancer," said Gary G. Schwartz, Ph.D., associate professor of cancer biology and of........Go to the Prostate-cancer-blog (Added on 9/3/2008 6:59:01 PM)

Natural childbirth makes mothers more responsive to own baby-cry

A new study has observed that mothers who delivered vaginally in comparison to caesarean section delivery (CSD) were significantly more responsive to the cry of their own baby, identified through MRI brain scans two to four weeks after delivery.
The results of the study, would be published recently in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, suggest that vaginal delivery (VD) mothers are more sensitive to own baby-cry in the regions........Go to the OBGYN news blog (Added on 9/3/2008 6:55:52 PM)

Higher protein breakfast may help dieters stay on track

A new study published online today in the British Journal of Nutrition observed that timing of dietary protein intake affects feelings of fullness throughout the day. The study concluded that when people ate high-quality protein foods, from sources such as eggs and lean Canadian bacon, for breakfast they had a greater sense of sustained fullness throughout the day in comparison to when more protein was eaten at lunch or dinner.i .
"There........Go to the Weight watcher's blog (Added on 9/3/2008 6:51:25 PM)

Higher rates of cervical cancer amongst immigrants

Gynaecological screening tests for cervical cancer have been available to all women in Sweden for almost four decades. Despite this, a number of immigrant women have a higher risk of developing the disease than Swedish-born women, as per a new study from Karolinska Institutet.
This is especially the case for women from other Nordic countries and Central America, the differences being associated with, amongst other things, variation in the........Go to the Cervical cancer blog (Added on 9/3/2008 6:42:03 PM)

Age-related memory loss tied to slip in filtering information quickly

Researchers have identified a way in which the brain's ability to process information diminishes with age, and shown that this break down contributes to the decreased ability to form memories that is linked to normal aging.
The finding, published in the current online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, fuels the researchers' efforts, they say, to explore strategies for enhancing brain function in the healthy........Go to the Neurology news blog (Added on 9/2/2008 8:08:08 PM)

Gene is likely cause of stroke-inducing vascular malformations

UCSF researchers have discovered that a gene controlling whether blood vessels differentiate into arteries or veins during embryonic development is associated with a vascular disorder in the brain that causes stroke.
The UCSF studies were done in mice, and the new findings are the first to provide information on both the progression and regression of this particular brain disorder, known as BAVM, and to provide molecular clues into the........Go to the Neurology news blog (Added on 9/2/2008 7:23:56 PM)

Magnesium Sulfate Reduces Risk of Cerebral Palsy

Results of a 10-year study reported in the August 28 issue of the New England Journal (NEJM) observed that magnesium sulfate administered to women delivering before 32 weeks of gestation reduced the risk of cerebral palsy by 50 percent. The Beneficial Effects of Antenatal Magnesium Sulfate (BEAM) trial was conducted in 18 centers in the U.S., including Northwestern Memorial, and is the first prenatal intervention ever found to reduce the........Go to the Pediatric news blog (Added on 8/31/2008 8:47:26 PM)

Professional guidelines for regarding earwax

The age-old advice to routinely clean out earwax is discouraged under the first published guidelines from health care professionals about removing wax from the ear.
"Unfortunately, a number of people feel the need to manually remove earwax, called cerumen, which serves an important protective function for the ear," said the guidelines' lead author, Dr. Peter Roland, chairman of otolaryngology head and neck surgery at UT Southwestern........Go to the ENT news blog (Added on 8/31/2008 8:39:58 PM)

New genes for inflammatory bowel disease in children

Scientists have discovered two new genes that increase the risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in childhood.
While further study is needed to identify the specific disease-causing mutations in these new genes, the scientists say the genes are especially strong candidates to be added to the list of genes already known to affect IBD. "As we continue to find genes that interact with each other and with environmental influences........Go to the Research news blog (Added on 8/31/2008 8:31:48 PM)

Sex hormones link to heart risk

Men are more prone to and likely to die of - heart disease compared with women of a similar age and sex hormones are to blame, as per a new University of Leicester led study.
The findings of a study by Dr Maciej Tomaszewski, New Blood Lecturer in Cardiovascular Medicine in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Leicester, suggest that this "male disadvantage" may be correlation to the sex-specific effects of........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 8/31/2008 8:20:28 PM)

Pregnancy situations have impact on brain development

Brain development in infants who are born very prematurely is still incomplete. Factors that cause premature birth may have an impact on the development of the premature infant's brain both during pregnancy and later on after birth. A project conducted as part of the Academy of Finland Research Programme on Neuroscience (NEURO) is concerned to study brain growth and development invery premature or low-weight infants.
The central nervous........Go to the OBGYN news blog (Added on 8/27/2008 9:13:52 PM)

Army personnel show increased risk for migraine

Two new studies show that migraine headaches are very common among U.S. military personnel, yet the condition is frequently underdiagnosed. The studies, appearing in Headache, the peer-evaluated journal of the American Headache Society, examine the incidence among soldiers within 10 days of returning from a 1-year combat tour in Iraq , as well as U.S. Army officer trainees.
The U.S. active-duty military population is composed chiefly of........Go to the Neurology news blog (Added on 8/27/2008 9:06:21 PM)

Abuse of painkillers can predispose to addiction

No child aspires to a lifetime of addiction. But their brains might. In new research to appear online in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology this week, Rockefeller University scientists reveal that adolescent brains exposed to the painkiller Oxycontin can sustain lifelong and permanent changes in their reward system changes that increase the drug's euphoric properties and make such adolescents more vulnerable to the drug's effects later in........Go to the Psychology news blog (Added on 9/10/2008 10:03:26 PM)

Individuals vary their immune response

Is it always good to respond maximally when pathogens or disease strike, or should individuals vary their immune response to balance immediate and future costs? This is the question evolutionary physiologists Oliver Love, Katrina Salvante, James Dale, and Tony Williams asked when they examined how a simple immune response varied at different life stages across the life-span of individual zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), as per a research........Go to the Society medical news blog (Added on 9/10/2008 7:28:37 PM)

Early stage colon cancer and gatekeeper gene

The absence or inactivation of the RUNX3 gatekeeper gene paves the way for the growth and development of colon cancer, Singapore researchers report in the Sept. issue of the journal Cancer Cell Prior studies have shown that RUNX3 plays a role in gastric, breast, lung and bladder cancers.
The inactivation of RUNX3 occurs at a very early stage of colon cancer, as per the Singapore scientists' studies with human tissue samples and animal........Go to the Colon-cancer-blog (Added on 9/9/2008 9:29:47 PM)

Spirituality is important to eye patients

Patients visiting an ophthalmologist report that prayer is important to their well-being and that God plays a positive role in illness, as per a report in the recent issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
"Ethical medical practice includes doctor behavior, beyond technical competence, that promotes healing and optimizes the patient's welfare," the authors write as background information in the article. "The........Go to the Ophthalmology news blog (Added on 9/8/2008 7:35:18 PM)

'Healthy' individuals may be at risk for heart disease

In the face of a growing obesity epidemic in the United States, scientists at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have new study results that indicate that how much fat a person has is not as important as where that fat is located when assessing risk for cardiovascular events and metabolic disease.
"We are facing an obesity epidemic, which obviously affects a number of things metabolic abnormalities, cardiovascular disease, etc.,"........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 9/8/2008 6:28:38 PM)

Physical activity can blunt effect of obesity-related gene

High levels of physical activity can help to counteract a gene that normally causes people to gain weight, as per a new study by scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. They analyzed gene variants and activity levels of the Old Order Amish in Lancaster County, Pa., and observed that the obesity-related FTO gene had no effect on individuals who were the most physically active.
"Our results strongly suggest that the........Go to the Weight watcher's blog (Added on 9/8/2008 6:21:48 PM)

Website review: InsuranceSpecialists.com

Whether you're a first-time visitor to MedicineWorld.org, or a frequent reader, you know that the Internet is the best source of quick, easy information about the state of modern medicine, as well as tips to help you prevent common illnesses and improve your general health. It should come as no surprise, then, that the 'net is also the best place to go when you're shopping for health insurance. There are many insurance websites out there, but........Go to the Society medical news blog (Added on 9/3/2008 7:06:18 PM)

Cholesterol drugs lower risk of stroke for elderly too

Elderly people who take a cholesterol drug after a stroke or mini-stroke lower their risk of having another stroke just as much as younger people in the same situation, as per research reported in the September 3, 2008, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
"Even though the majority of strokes and heart attacks occur in people who are 65 and older, studies have observed that cholesterol-lowering........Go to the Neurology news blog (Added on 9/3/2008 7:02:29 PM)

Defibrillators save lives, don't diminish quality of life

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) reduce the risk of death from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) among patients with heart failure, and they do so without significantly altering a person's quality of life, say scientists from Duke University Medical Center.
The finding from the longest and most comprehensive study to date of ICD use to prevent SCA may go a long way toward easing doctor and patient concerns about the side effects........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 9/3/2008 6:57:33 PM)

Height linked to risk of prostate cancer development

A man's height is a modest marker for risk of prostate cancer development, but is more strongly associated with progression of the cancer, say British scientists who conducted their own study on the connection and also evaluated 58 published studies.
In the recent issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, 12 scientists at four universities in England studied more than........Go to the Prostate-cancer-blog (Added on 9/3/2008 6:54:36 PM)

Substance found in fruits and vegetables reduces likelihood of the flu

Mice given quercetin, a naturally occurring substance found in fruits and vegetables, were less likely to contract the flu, as per a research studypublished by The American Physiological Society. The study also observed that stressful exercise increased the susceptibility of mice to the flu, but quercetin canceled out that negative effect.
Quercetin, a close chemical relative of resveratrol, is present in a variety of fruits and vegetables,........Go to the Society medical news blog (Added on 9/3/2008 6:44:42 PM)

NTP finalizes report on Bisphenol A

Current human exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in a number of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, is of "some concern" for effects on development of the prostate gland and brain and for behavioral effects in fetuses, infants and children, as per a final report released recently by the National Toxicology Program (NTP).
The report provides the NTP's current opinion on BPA's potential to cause harm to human reproduction or........Go to the Society medical news blog (Added on 9/3/2008 6:38:29 PM)

Colorectal cancer screening should start at age 50

Colorectal adenomas, the precursor polyps in virtually all colorectal cancers, occur infrequently in younger adults, but the rate sharply increases after age 50. Additionally, African Americans have a higher rate of proximal, or right-sided, polyps, and may have a worse prognosis for survival if the polyps become malignant. Therefore, the results of this study further emphasize the importance of colonoscopies, which view the entire colon, for........Go to the Colon-cancer-blog (Added on 9/2/2008 8:04:28 PM)

Chewing gum may help reduce stress

WHAT: "An investigation into the effects of gum chewing on mood and cortisol levels during psychological stress," to be presented at the 2008 10th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine, observed that chewing gum helped relieve anxiety, improve alertness and reduce stress among individuals in a laboratory setting.* The study examined whether chewing gum is capable of reducing induced anxiety and/or acute psychological stress while........Go to the Psychology news blog (Added on 8/31/2008 9:07:02 PM)

Radiation Risks Among Heart Doctors

Patients are not the only ones at risk during cardiac procedures. Doctors performing heart surgery also face health risks, namely to their eyes.
The IAEA is helping to raise awareness of threats, through training in radiation protection correlation to medical uses of X-ray imaging systems.
The issue of radiation protection for medical personnel is especially acute in the case of lengthy angioplasty and other cardiac interventions........Go to the Society medical news blog (Added on 8/31/2008 9:03:22 PM)

Door to new cancer, aging treatments

Scientists at The Wistar Institute have deciphered the structure of the active region of telomerase, an enzyme that plays a major role in the development of nearly all human cancers. The landmark achievement opens the door to the creation of new, broadly effective cancer drugs, as well as anti-aging therapies.
Scientists have attempted for more than a decade to find drugs that shut down telomerasewidely considered the No. 1 target for the........Go to the Research news blog (Added on 8/31/2008 8:37:05 PM)

The association with stress and depression

The brain is the key organ in the response to stress. It reacts in a complex, orchestrated manner that is correlation to the activation and inhibition of neural structures involved in sensory, motor, autonomic, cognitive and emotional processes. It is the brain which finally determines what in the world is threatening and might be stressful for us, and which regulates the stress responses that can be either adaptive or maladaptive. Chronic........Go to the Psychology news blog (Added on 8/31/2008 8:34:31 PM)

Telmisartan reduces outcome of heart attack or stroke

An international study led by Canadian scientists has observed that telmisartan, a medicine used to lower blood pressure, reduced the outcome of cardiovascular death, heart attack or stroke in people who are unable to tolerate a widely available and effective standard therapy.
Dr. Salim Yusuf and Dr. Koon Teo, professors in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University and clinicians at Hamilton Health Sciences, led the........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 8/31/2008 8:18:41 PM)

'Superbug' breast infections controllable in nursing mothers

A number of nursing mothers who have been hospitalized for breast abscesses are afflicted with the "superbug" methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, but as per new research by UT Southwestern Medical Center physicians, conservative therapy can deal with the problem.
The study focused on hospitalized women with mastitis, and showed that MRSA was much more likely to be found in those who had both mastitis (an inflammation of the........Go to the OBGYN news blog (Added on 8/31/2008 8:14:59 PM)

Health risk behaviors and PSA awareness

As per a research studyconducted at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, health risk behaviors such as smoking and obesity are linked to lower awareness of the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), which could lead to a lower likelihood of undergoing actual prostate cancer screening. Eventhough prior studies have explored predictors of PSA test awareness, this is the first research to focus on health risk behaviors, such as smoking,........Go to the Prostate-cancer-blog (Added on 8/27/2008 9:10:57 PM)